Surgical sponges



April s, 1958 D. R. KNAPP SURGICAL SPQNGES Filed Jan. 15, 1953 BWW ATTORNEY United States PatentO SURGICAL SPONGES Donald R. Knapp, Stelton, N. J., assignor to Johnson & Johnson, a corporation of New Jersey Application January 13, 1953, Serial No. 331,001

Claims. (Cl. 128-496) This invention relates to articles suitable for use as surgical sponges and for other purposes, and to a method of making them.

There has long been a demand for surgical sponges or tampons in the form of highly absorbent firm balls which have no rough or hard portions on their surfaces and which cannot ravel or shed lint when being used. It has been a makeshift practice for hospitals to prepare such sponges by hand by rolling a ball of absorbent cotton or gauze and surrounding this with a covering of gauze, but there has been no satisfactory way of holding the covering or preventing unfolding and raveling of the edges. Sponges have also been made by wrapping a flat piece of gauze around a ball, gathering it into a small neck and sewing the neck by a whip stitch in order to confine the edges. These sponges have been objectionable because the sewed edge is rough and hard, and unless great care is used in placing the sponge, for example, in the cavities left by removing tonsils, such rough edges are irritating or injurious.

My invention provides an improved sponge and a convenient and practical method of making it, which sponge eliminates the above-described disadvantages and is completely enclosed and permanently secured by a soft covering of absorbent gauze, while having a body of any desired degree of hardness or firmness.

The accompanying drawings, by way of illustration, show one form of my improved sponge and the steps in one method of making it.

Fig. 1 is a perspective view of the principal parts of the sponge in one stage of its construction;

Fig. 2 is an elevation of a succeeding step in the process of manufacture;

Fig. 3 is a perspective of the completed sponge;

Fig. 4 is a section on the line 4--4 of Fig. 3; and

Fig. 5 is a section of a sponge made according to another embodiment of the invention.

In making my improved sponge I first prepare a more or less spherical ball or core of absorbent cotton fibers, woven cotton gauze or any desired absorbent and resilient substance as filling material. This may be a standard machine-made cotton ball, but I prefer to prepare the core by folding and bunching woven gauze. This can be done by any method or means known in the art. The ball, however prepared, is formed and if desired compressed, to any desired consistency or degree of firmness or hardness, and is firmly held together by the inherent entanglement and friction of the fibers so as to be substantially solid. If desired, gauze can be used which is provided with an absorbent cohesive coating as disclosed in the Stone Patent No. 2,371,001.

The ball thus prepared is wrapped in a swatch 12 of highly absorbent sheet material, such as surgical gauze woven of cotton or other material. Such gauze may be oxidized to form oxycellulose as disclosed in Staud et al., U. S. Patent 1,939,235 and Yackel et 211., U. S. Patent 2,232,990, to provide a hemosta-tic covering for the sponge, or the gauze may be made hemostatic by weaving 2,829,648 Patented Apr. 8, 1958 of, or coating with, alginic acid, or metallic alginates as is known in the art. The covering sheet 12 is wrapped about the ball as shown in Fig. 2, being gathered into a neck 14. The neck is then inverted or turned outsidein and inserted into the center of the core 10, as shown in Fig. 4. In so doing, the portion 16 of the core, being displaced and more firmly compressed by the neck, forms a resilient annular shoulder or rim which holds the integral terminal portions of sheet 12 together around the neck. If the core is packed sufficiently firmly, the mere insertion of the neck into the core will be sufiicient to hold it in place and provide a securely enclosed and fastened sponge 20 as shown in Fig. 5. The finished sponge is a filled (i. e., imperforate) globular article substantially enclosed on all sides as desired. Annular means, preferably resilient annular means, said means being disposed within the cover and surrounding the terminal portions of the cover, may be substituted for the adjacent portions of the compressed cotton core for holding said terminal portions.

I may secure the neck in the interior of the core by adhesive. For example, I may insert the neck in the position shown in Fig. 3 by any suitable tool, and while holding the neck, inject any suitable adhesive such as rubber latex. The latex penetrates the gauze of the neck and the surrounding fibers of the core to provide a mechanical bond 18, Fig. 4, disposed wholly within the sponge. The neck and adhesive are inserted far enough for the shoulders 16 to form a resilient pad around the adhesively sealed gauze, which holds the hardened mass of the latex-coated gauze away from the surface of the sponge and prevents irritation of tissues to which the sponge may be applied.

Another way of providing the adhesive seal is to make either the sheet 12 or the core 10, or both, of cohesive gauze prepared as disclosed in the Stone patent mentioned. In such case when the neck is gathered and formed, the cohesive layers of gauze ahere firmly to each other and hold the neck in position.

This application is a continuation-in-part of my copending application Serial Number 4,832 filed January 28, 1948, now abandoned.

I claim:

1. A surgical sponge comprising in combination an absorbent core and a cover of pervious absorbent sheet material surrounding the core the sponge being substantially enclosed on all sides, the cover having integral terminal portions held within the cover as an inverted neck, the sponge being substantially filled by the core and globular in shape and the core including resilient annular means surrounding the terminal portions and holding said terminal portions within the cover.

2. An absorbent body suitable for a surgical sponge comprising in combination a generally globular solid absorbent core and a cover of pervious absorbent sheet material surrounding the core, the cover having an edge and the entire edge being disposed within the core, the body including resilient annular means holding the edge within the core.

3. An absorbent body suitable for a surgical sponge comprising in combination a generally globular solid absorbent core and a flat sheet of pervious absorbent sheet material folded to form a cover surrounding the core, the cover having an edge, the entire edge and the adjacent area of the cover being gathered into a neck, the neck being inverted, tucked and placed within the core and the body having resilient annular means for holding the neck within the core.

4. An absorbent body suitable for a surgical sponge comprising in combination a generally globular filled absorbent compressible core and a flat sheet of pervious absorbent sheet material folded to form a cover surrounding a core, the cover having an edge, the entire edge and the adjacent area of the cover being gathered into a neck, the neck being inverted and tucked Within the core, the area of the cover adjacent said neck compressing annular portions of said core and said annular portions holding said neck within the core.

5. An absorbent body suitable for a surgical sponge comprising in combination a solid absorbent core and a cover of pervious absorbent sheet material surrounding the core, the sponge being substantially enclosed on all 10 sides, the body being globular in shape and substantially filled by said core, the cover having an edge and the entire edge being disposed within the core, areas of said cover adjacent said edge compressing annular portions of said core, said annular portions holding the free edges of said cover within said core.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,188,923 Robinson Feb. 6, 1940 2,716,408 Mott Aug. so, 1955 FOREIGN PATENTS 508,610 Great Britain July 4, 1939 

